Renaissance in renaissance

As we reminded everyone during our series, Notes On The Holy Mix Grail, it was the first institution in Britain’s then world beating club scene to put out a DJ set on CD. And by the end of the 90s that ever changing but always interlinked associated artwork had become symbolic of an internationally recognised electronic music brand.

Time’s not always on your side when things are going good though. In the decade that followed the millennium poor physical sales began defining the planet’s music industry, while in clubs a wholesale movement away from large scale venues began. Renaissance‘s time at the top was coming to an end (with the company going into administration last year).

Progressive house will forever be linked to the organisation, and while it might not be about to replace deep house as the sound of a thousand Sound Cloud accounts as we’ve shown on these pages with reviews of Tech D, and that recent Dosem Choice Cut album (to name but two), there are signs of new life in said sub genre. Meanwhile Renaissance has come back from the brink, and is once again in Geoff Oakes’ hands, the original owner of the Mansfield-born institution. Where from here is unclear, but the label arm is set to relaunch next month, with a new compilation from Dave Seaman pencilled in for September. Details of that, and more, can be found in this interview with the founder and born again bossman, put together by our good friends over at RA.